El Paso County, CO Sign Regulations: Holiday Displays (2026)
Key Facts
- Exempt from
- all § 6.2.3 lighting standards
- Type/number/area
- unlimited
- Must stay
- incidental/customary to holiday
- Restriction
- can't mimic traffic control device
- Section
- 6.2.3(D), Exemptions
Summary
El Paso County exempts holiday decorative lighting entirely from its outdoor lighting standards, allowing any type, number, area, height, location, illumination or animation as long as it can't be mistaken for a traffic control device.
Holiday lights in the nature of decorations, clearly incidental and customary and commonly associated with any national, local or religious holiday. Holiday lights may be of any type, number, area, height, location, illumination or animation, except that they shall not produce incident or reflected light that may be confused with or construed as a traffic control device;
· Any lighting required by the FAA for air traffic control, navigation, and warning purposes;
· Emergency lighting as required by law enforcement or emergency services personnel to protect life or property provided the lighting is temporary and is discontinued immediately on abatement of the emergency necessitating the lighting;
· Road lighting;
· Construction lighting provided the lighting is temporary and is discontinued immediately on completion of the construction work;
· Traffic control signals and devices;
· Vehicular lights;
· Temporary use of low wattage or low voltage lighting for public festivals, celebrations, and carnivals approved as a temporary use; and
· Single family residential lighting, except as prohibited herein.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Land Development Code: Supplement 3 | Drainage Criteria Manual: Publication | Engineering Criteria Manual: Supplement 3 | Ordinances: Reformat).
Full Breakdown
Section 6.2.3 sets strict cutoff, wattage, and property-line brightness limits for outdoor lighting in unincorporated El Paso County, but subsection (D) carves holiday lights out entirely. They're exempt from every technical requirement in the Section provided they stay incidental and customary to a recognized national, local, or religious holiday and don't produce light readable as a traffic signal.
Violations & Fines
County Planning and Community Development enforces the lighting standards at permitting and inspection; a holiday display that mimics a traffic control signal loses its exemption and is treated as prohibited lighting under § 6.2.3(C).
Frequently Asked Questions
Do holiday lights need a lighting plan in El Paso County?
Is there a limit on how many holiday lights I can put up?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in El Paso County
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